Kids crowd to see chicks hatch at the 2024 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Brandon.

Opinion: Agri-culture embraced at Royal Manitoba Winter Fair

Events like the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair help ag connect with urban consumers, but how much difference does it actually make?

Visitors to the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Brandon at the end of March were entertained by an aggressively hungry ewe. They also saw newborn chicks flopping and flipping a few minutes after cracking their eggs. Horses clopped down the alleys, hefty-muscled and throwing off anxious-for-the-ring energy. There was straw, boots, company-branded gear, ropes, helmets,

Used straw bedding is shoveled in the Ag Ex barns in 2023.

No straw allowed for Royal Manitoba Winter Fair

Organizers point to increased transportation price tag

Anyone who beds animals at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair this year won’t be doing it with straw. The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, which holds the major agro-tourism event in Brandon each year, says straw animal bedding will no longer be used at its events due to the cost of dealing with the used material.


Birds of prey get a moment in the spotlight in the Keystone Centre’s main arena, slated for upgrades, during the 2023 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

Millions announced for Keystone Centre revamp

Funds for the venue are part of larger agreement between Brandon and the province

One of Manitoba’s premier agricultural venues is getting funds for a major facelift. On March 30, the province announced almost $11 million in funding for Brandon’s Keystone Centre over the next several years.  The facility hosts Ag Days, three Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba fairs, Manitoba Potato Production Days and other major ag events. Why it

Attendees get a close look at some goat kids at a past show.

Manitoba farm family nominees sought for Winter Fair

Six farm families will be honoured at Royal Manitoba Winter Fair

The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba and BMO are once again on the hunt for six farm families to shine the spotlight on during this year’s Royal Manitoba Winter Fair. Nominations are open for the 2023 BMO Manitoba Farm Family Awards. It will be the fifth round for the annual awards. Each year, the financial institution



Left to right: Fair co-chair Wayne Buhr, Manitoba Pork Council general manager Cam Dahl, Mike Hofer of Barrickman Colony and judge Jason Care pose in front of the winning carcass of the 2022 RMWF pork quality competition.

Pork quality competition returns to RMWF

Royal Manitoba Winter Fair competition saw an above-average 16 entries during its grand return

Jason Care of Manitoba Hog Grading had little to complain about judging the entries of the 2022 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair (RMWF) pork quality competition. Of the above-average 16 carcasses entered, a quarter had broken the 80-point mark, out of a total of 111 points possible. Colour was, in general, good, ranging consistently more to

The signature heavy horse event is just one of many facets of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair that remains on hiatus awaiting better times.

Royal Manitoba Winter Fair takes 50th anniversary virtual

The anniversary fair was postponed at the last minute last year, but with COVID-19 restrictions still in effect, some elements of the event moved online

When organizers postponed last year’s golden jubilee of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, the hope was that 2021 would bring a triumphant return. They looked forward to the day this spring, when entertainers, horse and cattle shows, ag education, petting zoos and trade shows that typically draw thousands to Brandon at the end of March, resumed. COVID-19, however, has had

The historic dome building on the Keystone Centre grounds in Brandon.

Pandemic puts time out on RMWF planning

The hits keep coming for Manitoba’s ag fairs

COVID-19 has hit pause on yet another ag fair normally put on by the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba. The exhibition board has suspended planning for the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, which typically draws thousands to Brandon’s Keystone Centre for trade shows, horse and cattle exhibits, agricultural education and other entertainment in March, the exhibition announced


Kayci Cameron of Brandon gets acquainted with a curious goat at the 2018 Manitoba Summer Fair petting zoo.

COVID-19 claims two-thirds of Brandon’s major ag fairs

Manitoba Summer Fair hits the chopping block, but word is still out on Ag Ex

Brandon’s Keystone Centre should have been shoulder-to-shoulder crowds June 3-7 with the pop-up city of towering rides, food trucks and entertainers that is the Manitoba Summer Fair. This year, however, the lots were bare. The Manitoba Summer Fair is now the second of three major events put on by the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba to fall prey

Brandon’s dome building has been a mark of the Provincial Exhibition for over a century.

COVID-19 fears put a halt to agricultural events

The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, annual meeting of the Manitoba Pork Council and KAP’s Discover Ag in the City have all been cancelled

The Royal Manitoba Winter Fair tops the list of agriculture-related events facing cancellation due to the COVID-19 outbreak. “We’ve been monitoring this situation as it’s been developing all along,” Ron Kristjansson, general manger of the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, said. “Obviously, public safety needs to be a huge concern for us in the events business